Chris Ramsey: Is that Chris Ramsey? at The Customs House

The moment of clarity hit me while sitting in the Steamboat. We were off to see Is That Chris Ramsey?

At first I thought am I blogging about it, then I thought naaaaa I’ve already done that. Cat argued back at me that we hadn’t. I carefully chose not to argue back anymore as generally I could be wrong. Turns out that over the course of a pint, I’d got my Hebburn (the series) Stand up comedians mixed up. I thought we were off to see the Jason Cook Comedy Club. So apt that Chris’s new tour is titled “Is that Chris Ramsey?”. I didn’t know!

Chris Ramsey: Is that Chris Ramsey?

The Customs House is rapidly becoming one of my favourite venues. It’s small enough to feel like you’re part of the action. I’ve not really had a bad seat, even when we were in the back row of the nose bleed seats at Christmas. The staff are always friendly and picking up tickets at the box office was at ninja speed. There was no repeatedly asking for the name H-OO-P-E-R, followed by there’s nothing for Cooper (we’re used to it now).

We flashed our tickets and walked in to the theatre as the ticket checker lady mutters “There’s strictly no photography thank you!”. I didn’t even have my camera with me, but it made me feel extra awkward. A little bit like when you check a text message on your phone at the pub quiz. I wasn’t going to take a photo, but the added pressure made me want to.

I believe that tonights gig was a warm up / preview of the following tour. And as one front row mobile phone user found out, Chris really didn’t want any of the show getting leaked out. So As a result my usual photography of the gig is limited to my rough sketches in the medium of ink and A4.

Chris Ramsey at the Customs House

Chris’s humour is based upon his life experiences and as a father he’s experiencing a lot of similar things to me. Although I promise not to spoil any of the set up his humour is at times just down, dirty and honest. Toilet activities that, I knew exactly what he meant! Phobia’s that I couldn’t totally relate to. And even a set that was about running in to see why his child is crying in the night when they’ve had a nightmare.

Turns out when I recounted the tales the next day, it was only me that shared the same thought process! I genuinely laughed through out both halves of the gig. I felt a little cheek ache from excessive smiling.

The second half of the gig to me seemed to build up bigger than the first half, but that’s exactly where it should be. His interaction with the audience was brilliant. Even when the people he was talking to didn’t want to chat. We got to glimpse behind the curtain when he shared that Jason cook was sitting off in the wings of the stage. Chris’s Wife was in the audience too about 4 rows from the front. Which really built up the intimate nature of the gig. Particularly when one of the people he talked to was the Pharmacist at a Supermarket, which he’d been too.

The end came too soon and the big build up story proved that true life can be very strange. But there is nothing better than laughing at peoples misfortunes.

The Customs House is probably my favourite theatre venue in the whole country let alone the North East and I’ve seen so many great shows there, although not Chris Ramsey yet! I saw him in London though and he was fabulous, very funny! xxx